India's IT for ANZ, but jobs go

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ANZ Bank has revealed plans to swell its Indian IT operations to
as many as 1000 employees in two years, from 650 now - a step it
admits will cost Australian jobs.

The bank's new chief information officer, Mark Willis, said
India's growing prowess in the IT world meant other Australian
banks would probably go down a similar path.

ANZ is steeling itself for a consumer and staff backlash over
the move, despite Mr Willis' stance that moving more operations to
India was a long-term plan and not a "big bang" decision.

"What keeps me awake more than the external PR side is the
internal PR side, communicating to staff," Mr Willis said. He had
personally spoken to about 1500 staff about the changes.

He said ANZ did not yet know the number of job losses but
pledged that natural attrition and other factors would keep it
"well south" of the more than 300 jobs to be created in
Bangalore.

But the Finance Sector Union called for more certainty, saying
it would seek further discussions with ANZ and with its
members.

ANZ acquired its Bangalore technology operation in 1989 when it
bought Grindlay's Bank. Grindlay's was sold in 2000 but the IT
operations were retained.

Mr Willis said ANZ's growth in India did not fit with the common
perception of "offshoring". "Yes, we are taking activity out of
Australia . . . (but) we have got to be clearer about the fact that
a lot of companies who are offshoring are moving things out of
their company," he said.

The Bangalore operations flirted with outside contracting, once
generating 5 per cent of its work from other banks, but ANZ has
since decided to cease that part of the business.